In this video, we will start with a review of the advantages and
the disadvantages of question types in formal market research.
Then we will create a sample survey for Cricket Flour.
The goal of formal market research surveys is to collect objective,
primarily quantitative data, about respondents and their habits and opinions.
The question types and structures we reviewed in video three are,
of course very important.
Creating a way to collect and
measure the answers to those questions is just as important.
Let's review two question types as an example.
As we discussed in video two,
informal research often uses questions like, what do you think?
These are called open-ended questions
because they are open to many different kinds of answers.
The advantage of these questions is that respondents can use their
own words to express their thoughts.
As discussed in video two, the disadvantage is that the answers
to open-ended questions are difficult to quantify and measure.
Formal market research surveys usually use very few, if any,
open-ended questions because of this difficulty.
Focus groups are considered formal market research because they are usually led
by market research companies who select or choose the participants and
formally plan the questions and lead the discussions.
Interestingly, however, focus group questions are often open-ended because
the participants are expected to share experiences and ideas.
Closed questions are questions that have defined answers.
For example, a respondent may be asked, do you like coffee?
And given the choice of two answers, yes or no.
Closed questions are common in surveys.
As discussed in video three, the advantage of closed questions
is that the answers are easier to quantify and measure.
The disadvantage is that sometimes the defined answers to closed
questions do not match a respondent's opinion or preference.
For example, I do not like hot coffee, but I do like iced coffee.
Therefore, it would be difficult for me to answer the question,
do you like coffee with just a simple yes or no.
Now let's create a sample survey for Cricket Flour using the same
organization and question structures we reviewed in video three.
This time, we will focus the questions on Cricket Flour.
And design the answer choices to produce data that can be quantified and measured.
Imagine we would like to do a formal market research survey about
whether Cricket Flour presents an opportunity in our local market.
In part one of our survey, we will try to get a demographic profile
of our respondents and we'll collect data on gender and age.
What will our questions and answer choices be?
For gender,
there is usually no question because respondents know what is being asked.
Age question types can be very different in different cultures.
In United States, for example,
we do not directly ask someone their age with a question like, how old are you?
Unless they are a close friend or family member.
Therefore, if researchers are interested in someone's age,
they will ask a question like this: what is your age range?
And offer age ranges or groups as answer choices like this,
so that the respondent does not feel pressure to share their exact age.
In other cultures, people maybe very happy to share their exact age.
In that case the researcher could ask the question, how old are you?
And collect an exact number as the answer.
Although this is an open-ended question, the answer is a number and,
therefore, is something that can be quantified and measured.
As mentioned in video three, other potential questions in part one could be
about a respondents profession, income and family or living situation.
Similar to age, these topics can be difficult to ask in the United States.
Often, it depends on the situation and whether the survey is given in person.
For the purposes of our sample survey, we will only ask about gender and age.
Imagine you are a respondent and
take part one of the survey now as part of this comprehension check.